CHAPTER XLVI.

_Chapter whereby he that is living is not destroyed in the Netherworld._

Oh ye recent offspring of Shu, who dawn after dawn is possessor of his

diadem at sunrise; ye future generations of men, my springing forth[64]

is the springing forth of Osiris.

NOTE.

This chapter is addressed to the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _hammemit_,

who are known from other quarters to be _human beings_, as the

younglings of the god Shu. But the reference is not to men who have yet

lived upon the earth. They are spoken of as _men of a future

generation_. Queen Hatshepsu on her obelisk when speaking of them

connects them with the period of 120 years, that is as if we said “men

of the next century.” Before their appearance upon the earth they circle

round the Sun, and the glorified dead hold converse with them (chapter

124, 6).

The Egyptians, like many other ancient nations, held the doctrine of the

preexistence of souls. They held it not like philosophers or poets, but

as an article of their popular and traditional creed.

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Footnote 64:

The _Day-Spring_.

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PLATE XVII.

BOOK OF THE DEAD.